"Broken Vacuum Cleaner & MacKillop Series 2 Episode IV: Yuckahula" by Steve Whitmore (Short Story)

Genre:  Science Fiction, Fantasy

Type of Short Story:  Short Story

Summary:  The universe’s greatest ever investigative duo uncovers a plot to destabilise the Cosmos in a run-down London convenience store. As booze-crazed alien slugs unleash unspeakable horror and terror, only a combination of MacKillop’s able brain and Broken Vacuum Cleaner’s array of cleaning attachments can hope to save the day.

This is the first story in the BVC & MacKillop series. Genre aficionados may appreciate its blend of fantasy, sci-fi and humour — not to mention a fascination with defunct household gadgetry of a sucky nature.

Excerpt:

MacKillop’s eyes snapped tight shut. Materializations were always unpleasant, especially those dishing him up to a Tuesday, which this quite clearly was. His skin stung like it had been grated; he felt sick — a horrible sickness, an uncontrollable urge toretchretchretch. But as ever, the foggy magenta visuals were the worst of it. The limbo between dimensions as one panorama morphed into another was no place for reconstituted mortals, let alone their spasmodically jettisoned stomach contents.

Broken Vacuum Cleaner sang to him from the canvas MYSTERIE’s knapsack slung over his back — random crooning that didn’t help at all. He turned to clock his cylinder accomplice’s shiny yellow carapace in the corner of his eye. “Shut up,” he said, with a female growl, “or I’ll throw up into your dust bag.”

Buy this story on Amazon.  Be sure to check out Steve's blog!